This is the video of a message I presented on 4/11/09 at New Life Church. It is an examination of the capitalist system, tracing it’s roots through history and scripture.
I believe this is a very strategic message for today, and contains information that every Christian should understand. Enjoy!
As always, your comments are welcome.
For His glory,
R<><
(This is a reprint of a May 11, 2005 post from my old, now defunct blog. I thought it was a story worth sharing again. Enjoy!)
The Moment of Truth
Recently, I had the opportunity to take my boys out fishing the flats of Tampa Bay. We had an incredible day, filled with sunshine, cooling breezes, and lots of fish hitting our lines. We managed to boat most of them, keeping only a few nice size sea trout for dinner. We caught all of our target fish – snook, redfish, and trout – a grand slam. We also caught a couple of bluefish and a black tip shark.
The highlight of my day came shortly after we arrived at our last chosen fishing spot. Our watchful captain spotted a couple of sizable cobia riding the wings of a large stingray, as they are prone to do. As luck would have it, they were swimming in the general direction of our bait. One peeled away from the ray to take my son’s bait, but unfortunately missed the hook and swam off. The other cobia and the ray turned away from the shore and also disappeared from our view.
A short time later, the other cobia and the ray (or another, we can’t know for sure) reappeared near the shoreline, but turned and swam the other direction away from the boat. Our captain quickly fired up the motor and circled around in an attempt to put us in a favorable position for another attempt. Even though we were not really geared up for a fish of this size and strength, the temptation was just too much to resist.
Sure enough, the ray and his wingman swam in our direction, and I quickly cast my baitfish in front of them. The cobia saw my bait and made a run for it. My bobber disappeared under the surface, I waited a couple of seconds, and then set the hook. My reel screamed in delight as the fish made a run away from the boat and time stopped for a while. The boys scrambled for the cameras to capture the saga.
For the next 20 some odd minutes, it was a vicious struggle of man versus fish. My light tackle was tested to the limits as the 40″ (dare we estimate) long beast strained to keep away from the boat. Each time I got him close enough to make a net attempt, he would make another run away from the boat. We were quite concerned about the light leader’s ability to hold up much longer against the constant pull of this incredibly strong fish. We figured the sooner we could get him into the boat, the better chance we had of bringing him home. We knew if we could just get him into the net, we’d have him.
Finally, the fish began to tire, but not before my arms began to ache (what a great feeling!). I brought him near the boat, and pulled him up to the surface and the captain got into position with the net. In a coordinated effort, I steered the fish toward the waiting net. Success was mere seconds away!
As the net closed around the beast, he didn’t even slow down. Instead, he reached down deep inside, and with a thrust of his powerful tail, he pushed right through the bottom of the net as though it were made of paper. The weakened leader snapped, and in an instant, he was gone.
What looked like a certain victory for me turned into a sudden disappointment. I had placed my faith entirely upon the net’s ability to hold that fish. It never occurred to me that a fish could break through something as strong as that net. I assumed once he was safely inside, he was mine.
But the fish had a different perspective. It was his Moment of Truth. He didn’t stop to think of how strong that net must be, and how difficult it would be to break through it. He didn’t stop to think about how hard he had fought and how tired he was and how he was now facing the biggest challenge of his life at the very moment he was at his weakest. He simply saw that net as a barrier that had to be broken if he was going to live another day. He reached down deep inside, and pulled on that reserve of energy that is available to all of God’s creatures in times like these. And he moved from certain death to precious freedom in the blink of an eye.
So often we find ourselves in the Moment of Truth. The enemy plays us into his trap, wearing us down, and then, at our weakest moment, closes in for the kill. In that moment – the Moment of Truth, we can reach down deep inside and pull out that breakthrough strength that God provides for us in moments like this. We must never allow obstacles to become nets of death around us. There is always a rescue, if we call upon God and exercise faith in the Moment of Truth. And we too will leave the enemy with a shattered and empty net.
In the end, I was very happy, having had the opportunity to struggle with this fish. Like my father, I like to imagine that the ones that get away grow up to become the biggest and the strongest. And fortunately, we have the struggle on video tape, so I can enjoy it whenever I want to re-live the experience. It was a very good day, in my book of days.
I’m sure many of my Christian friends are puzzled how a guy who is known to be an ardent pursuer of the Kingdom of God can suddenly get caught up in political protests. Some may have a hard time connecting the two. Others may suppose that my passion for God and things of the Spirit have been diluted by worldly concerns.
I assure you, nothing could be further from the truth.
My friend Sharon asked me some good questions about this protesting stuff. I started to answer on her Facebook wall, but being the wordy kind of guy I am, ended up in the 3rd box before I decided to move my comments here.
Among other things, Sharon asked this:
“I think you should post step by step instructional note of what we can each do to have an effective voice in this thing… In history the tea party made a statement …but we’re not really going to take up our muskets are we? Just what kind of effect do you hope this will accomplish beside just public awareness? I think it’s important that people understand why they are doing something and what the expected outcome will be…”
You ask good questions, Sharon. From my perspective (we’ll see how many agree), our nation has been hijacked by big government, “progressive” left-wing radicals that are merrily bankrupting our nation, fully thinking they have a mandate of the people to do so because of the elections.
Why would a Kingdom-minded guy like myself get so wrapped up in politics? Short answer – the principles of freedom, stewardship and personal responsibility are foundations of the Kingdom that we are to bring to this earth. These allow people to reach their destiny and live that abundant life that Jesus promised. These principles were established through much struggle and bloodshed by our forefathers. They are under attack, and will be lost if WE THE PEOPLE don’t stand up and oppose what is going on. As an ambassador of the Kingdom, I feel a very strong sense of stewardship and responsibility for the well-being of my fellow man and this nation, and I take this very seriously.
To quote a famous statesman – “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” We are truly living in critically strategic times. The ship has left the dock, and we are sailing into a storm, the likes of which we’ve never seen before. If enough peaceful protests take place, perhaps we can reverse course and the violence that will surely come can be averted. That is my hope and prayer.
America is a grand experiment based upon these Kingdom principles. But this is all changing very rapidly. We must learn the lessons of history. We can either preserve our freedom and prosperity, or we can do nothing and become enslaved by evil men. The choice is up to us.
Ask the Chinese Church if they’d rather have freedom or persecution. While they see the value and motivation of their persecution, I’m sure they see American Christians as fools who do not appreciate what we have been given.
We must pray, we must protest, and some of us will choose to fight. I do it for the children. A righteous man leaves an inheritance to his grandchildren. Obama and the Democrats are making this impossible by placing TRILLIONS of dollars of debt on the backs of future generations. This is evil. Somebody needs to speak out.
That is why I protest, write, and rant about this subject. This IS Kingdom business. This is where the rubber meets the road and the Kingdom gets real. It’s not just about singing songs and praying. This Kingdom has real life implications, and it’s getting more real every day.
I’m not advocating a theocracy in any way. The Kingdom is a choice that must be made by each individual and cannot be mandated by government. But righteousness and unrighteousness are found in every dollar that is spent and every law that is passed. If we are to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, how can we sit silently by and allow unrighteousness to go unchallenged, especially in a nation where freedom and individual liberty is celebrated as no other on the face of the earth?
What can we do? First, I believe one should take this question to God. Some will be called to run to the front lines of the battle, others will be called to care for the wounded and the families of those who fall in the battle. I believe that making our voices known on Facebook, blogs, Twitter, in our churches, neighborhoods, etc. is important. People are not informed and remain willfully ignorant of what is happening. Public protests will raise awareness, so I believe everyone should get involved. Make some new friends. I did yesterday at the protest.
Start a local communications network among those who understand. As the prophet Daniel said, “Those who have understanding will give understanding to many”. Keep the love of Jesus in the forefront in the midst of the battle and never violate the law of love. Demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit in the midst of all protest, even when things get heated (which they will eventually). Tell others about the Kingdom. Even most Christians don’t understand that it is the rule and reign of a loving God who wants all to be free and live prosperous, joyful lives.
Start right now to put aside some money for travel to larger protest events that are coming. I’m confident that massive gatherings will be organized in the near future. It will take a thundering cry from the masses to turn this crazy train around. Will it take muskets to get the point across? Let’s pray not. But if this doesn’t turn around, I guarantee you, it’s only a matter of time.
Get plugged into the new social media outlets. Twitter will become a key tool this year. Learn how it works. We no longer have to depend upon the major liberally-biased media outlets for our news. We have the power to broadcast to one another instantaneously, all across the country.
The Revolution has begun, and I think the Kingdom is right in the midst of it. If not, I intend to put it there.
Ready to rumble,
R<><
“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism” – Unknown
This is a resurrected post that I started back in December. How much clearer we can see, just a few weeks hence..
Last December I was privileged to attend an inspiring one day gathering of some of the most insightful marketplace ministry leaders I’m aware of. It was an intimate gathering which allowed some close contact with the speakers, which included C. Peter Wagner, Dennis Peacocke, Lance Wallnau, Linda Rios Brooke and Chuck Pierce.
Going into this conference, I was very curious what their perspective would be on our current state of affairs, given the wonderful mixture of apostolic and prophetic anointings placed in these strategic thinkers. I’ve done a fair amount of research into the gravity of economic realities we’re now facing and honestly wondered if anybody was coming to the same conclusions I’ve drawn.
I’m sad to report that I found a great deal of confirmation and validation across the board and that indeed, things ARE as bad as I been thinking. They agreed; the ship is going down and it’s only a matter of time.
BUT THIS IS NOT BAD NEWS. You see, we’re privileged to be living in the Day of Shakings! The systems of this world are filled with corruption and death, built upon the principles of greed and lust and a disregard for the principles of the Kingdom of God. They MUST come down to make room for the new life-giving systems of the Kingdom to be built and established. They are bankrupt and the game is over. Linda Rios Brook paraphrased thusly, “if the horse is dead, it’s probably time to dismount.”
The Obama team and the Democrat-controlled congress will do their best to fix the problems, but this will serve only to delay the inevitable. I certainly don’t envy them.
Linda shared the following well-established principles of leadership:
Thus, we are living in extraordinary days. Everything that can be shaken, will be so that the artificial can no longer appear to be real. God is not mocked, even by the government and politicians. As a nation, we are reaping what we have sown. It’s time to plant a new crop and look forward to an extended season of tending that which is precious even as the fire of God burns up the noxious weeds in our lives.
I say turn up the heat, Lord, and let’s get on with it.
Until next time,
R<><
A very unusual and historic event took place yesterday. I believe February 27, 2009 will be noted in the history books as the start of another American Revolution. Thousands of Americans spontaneously took to the streets in over 50 cities all across the nation to protest the economic policies of the Obama administration and the Democrats pork-laden “Stimulus” plan.
The spark that ignited this fire was an emotional rant from the floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange by CNBC reporter Rick Santelli just eight days earlier. In a brief outburst for the cameras, he called for another Tea Party in Chicago. His words echoed across the new social media channels, striking a nerve among the masses who believe our current economic policies are not only unfair, but taking America down the road to socialism.
I was alerted to the Tea Party phenomenon by a friend through Facebook only the day before, and went looking for the closest event to me. Sure enough, high noon at the Federal Court House in Tampa was on the schedule. (Kudos to John Hendrix for jumping in and organizing the Tampa event). I shot out a quick SMS to a few of my peeps, who jumped in with me and off we went.
We arrived about 10 minutes early, and already a crowd of about 60 people were gathered. These were just ordinary Americans, young and old, who are obviously frustrated, angry and fed up with what is happening to our nation. Most of those I talked with had only discovered the event the day before, which explained the hastily made signage they were waving from the sidewalks on both sides of the street. WATCH THE VIDEO
Chants of “No More Bailouts”, “No More Nelson” (referring to Florida Democrat Senator Bill Nelson, who voted for the Stimulus package) elicited mixed reactions from passing motorists. Most looked on with curiosity, some yelled back obscenities, but many honked their horns and waved in agreement, rewarding the protesters efforts. At several points the street grew noisy as a chorus of horns erupted from the lanes of traffic stopped at a red light across the intersection.
There was strong agreement that these protests were only the beginning. Everyone there represented many others who wanted to attend but could not. Most are calling for bigger, more widespread protests that will grow exponentially as the frustration with the insanity going on in Washington provokes the silent masses to make their voices known.
Is this truly the start of another Revolution? Only time will tell. I believe we are reaching a tipping point in America, and if the liberals in Washington don’t stop the march to socialism, its only a matter of time before things get ugly.
Get involved. Join the protest. Get informed and stop letting others do the talking for you. Make your voice heard. Here are some helpful links to get you started.
New American Tea Party Website
Downsize DC
Twitter #teaparty
See you in the streets,
R<><
Al Gore (bless his pointy little head) won great acclaim for his “stellar” work reporting on the dreaded GLOBAL WARMING CRISIS. Well, never fear, dear readers. We shall not have time to worry about human carbon emissions much longer, for his party (the mindless robotic zombiods) are creating a far greater, undisputable and imminent crisis – the crisis of debt. Your dollar is shrinking faster than a snowman in Florida. Insanity has officially become the order of the day on the Hill.
The government has no money for these bailouts. They have to borrow it from the Federal Reserve (a private banking entity) at interest, and fire up the presses to produce all this money. Everytime they print a new dollar, every dollar you have in your wallet, bank account or shoebox is worth less. How much less? In this video, Glenn Beck explains. Please SHARE THIS VIDEO WITH YOUR FRIENDS. We must stop the insanity, or pretty soon, you’ll be carrying your money around in a wheelbarrow (study a bit of world history if you don’t believe me).
Click to Watch Video
God help us. Please.
R<><
(sent to comments@whitehouse.gov)
Mr. President,
I am greatly disappointed in your decision to help abort unborn children.
I beg you, sir, please do not open the floodgates of abortion in this country, especially using tax dollars. This is HIGHLY offensive to me, and a large number of my fellow Christians, many of whom supported you in this election. You say you want God’s blessing upon our nation? What if God views abortion as murder? Apparently you do not believe that, but what if you are wrong? If so, do you believe He will bless you during your term of office, or our nation if we continue to kill off the next generation out of convenience? What if your mother had aborted you? In the future, please keep in mind that the unborn child is precious in the sight of God and that it is wrong to take an innocent life. It seems to me that you are gambling on a very high level here, and you’ve only been President for a week.
Have you done any research on the financial consequences to our nation since we legalized abortion in this country? Do you know how many tax dollars would be flowing into the Social Security system today from these workers who would now be paying into the system? Do you know how many millions and millions of dollars that would be flowing through the economy had they been allowed to grow old enough to enter the workforce and become productive members of society? Do you REALLY care about the future of America, or are you like every other politician who only cares about your term of office?
I believe you are an intelligent man. I believe you have incredible potential to bring about the change you promised during your campaign. We are facing many serious issues in this hour, and yet you have chosen to step boldly into what you know to be one of the most controversial and divisive issues that exists as one of your first official actions.
Shame on you, Mr. President. I cannot tell you how disappointed I am in you right now. Think of how many people I represent who do not take the time to write you and make their voices heard. There are millions of us out here… and we are all very, very sad today.
Bottom line – you can choose to listen to the people, or you can choose to listen to God. When you lay your head upon your pillow at night, which is most important to you?
May God have mercy on you, and upon our nation.
Rich Carey
In my last post, I raised the ire of some of my Christian brethren when I asserted that God did not put Obama in office. Since some misinterpreted my position so a follow-up is in order, with a few additional thoughts.
Let me be the first to say that it is possible that God was behind Obama’s victory. However, our culture is prone to being very myopic, so let’s zoom back a bit and get some perspective. The field of candidates was far broader than who ended up on the ticket. You’d never know it now, but the common sentiment in the streets going into the election were anything but enthusiastic for any candidate until the final runners were chosen. In my opinion, there were many people who were far more qualified for the position than the two party ticket we ended up with.
Nonetheless, Obama was clearly the overwhelming choice of the people, regardless of how he ascended to that position. Was God working behind the scenes to bring him into power? I doubt very much that we’ll reach a consensus on that one any time soon. If he leads righteously during his administration and our nation is in better condition when he leaves than when he came in, that will be an easier pill to swallow. If not, his staunch supporters will blame Bush for his failures anyway. That’s the problem with the narrow-minded partisan political spirit. It causes a blindness to the faults of our party, and we get taken along for the ride.
So, how should Christians view President Obama? Is he the chosen one, sent by God to lead our nation out of the mire we now find ourselves in? Or is he the product of a slick marketing campaign, the weariness of the war in Iraq and a passionate desire for racial equality? Perspective is everything, and this is especially true at this critical juncture of our nation’s history.
If we as Christians blindly accept that God placed Obama in office, how honestly are we going to evaluate what he does? I think we could answer that question by simply looking back at the past 8 years. It took me about 6 years to decide that Bush was taking us into a very bad direction; which would have been much sooner if I had been paying more attention to what was going on (put your rocks away, all ye hypocrites!). I am not bashing President Bush. He stood strongly for what he believed in, and that is what leadership is about. I was never of the opinion that God put him into office, but my nature is to trust people until they violate that trust. Therefore, I have had a track record of giving politicians the benefit of the doubt if they say all the right things, with the idea that we’ll just fix it all with the next guy if they go wrong. Not any more. Bad idea… really bad idea right now.
President Obama has not earned our trust yet, especially those of us who hold to a biblical worldview. He must be judged not by his color, nor by his good speeches, nor by his glowing promises. Our trust for him must come from his stewardship of the high office he occupies, and the track record of his accomplishments, period. And his track record to date is far from stellar, a fact that seems to escape most of his adoring fans.
To those who insist that we give him the benefit of the doubt, I say to you that we do not have that luxury right now. We are sailing into a storm of catastrophic proportions. The democrat-controlled congress, who’s leaders I hold in high disdain (I’ll not disgrace my blog by naming their names) have shown utter stupidity and downright dishonesty in the recent past. The hypocrisy we’ve seen is maddening and some of them should be in jail, and would be if the Washington political machine were not so corrupt. If President Obama does not have the insight, skill and courage to sway his own party away from their social collectivist liberal agenda and into conservative social and fiscally sound economic policies, we are most certainly going to be worse off in 4 years than we are today.
So, dear Christian, please do not listen to the hype and emotion of the popular media machine and your uninformed friends. Take a stand for truth. Pray for our President, his family and his cabinet like never before. Get educated on what’s happening in government. Don’t let congress sneak things past you any more. Support those decisions that line up with God’s ways and become very vocal in opposition to those that do not. Stop letting the party spirit and the popular liberal media formulate your opinions of right and wrong and return to the truth of God’s Word. Demonstrate love and grace to all, even to those we disagree with, for in so doing, we may just win some over to the truth.
As always, your comments are welcome. Be nice. We’re in this boat together. Honest dialogue is healthy in this hour, even if we disagree. At least it means we’re thinking.
Yesterday Barack Obama made history by becoming the first black President of these United States. The enthusiasm and pride of the million plus people who endured hours of bitter cold to witness his inauguration was truly inspiring. We can all be very proud that this new chapter in American history has begun. It is my earnest prayer that the ugly scourge of racism and disenfranchisement of African-Americans; indeed all people, no matter what color, can be put behind us forever.
President Obama’s speech was typical of those he delivered during his campaign, filled with the phrases of hope that became the platform on which he ran – “we are one”, “yes we can”, “nothing is impossible”, “this is not about me, but about you”, etc. These words have instilled a great sense of hope in the masses and expectations upon our new President are very high. Truly he will need our prayers in the days to come as we face some of the greatest crises in the history of this nation.
Personally, I’m not as full of hope as most, it seems. I’m not a pessimist by nature, but life has taught me that talk is cheap, people are mostly fickle, selfish and lazy by nature, and common sense is in short supply today, especially in Washington D.C. Simply electing a new President, no matter how charismatic or brilliant he (or she) may be will not make a whit of difference if we don’t get a rapid and comprehensive infusion of guts and brains into our Democrat-controlled congress as well.
True to form, I’d like to be controversial (what? Rich? controversial?) and address one idea that keeps popping up in the commentaries made by Christians since the election. “God is in control of everything” seems to be a popular theme these days, which is clearly meant to say that God put Obama into office. I have very strong objections to this concept, and I’d like to share another perspective.
The Bible is filled with examples of God raising up leaders, both good and evil, to rule over His people. Many Christians in this hour are quick to quote Paul’s admonition in Romans 13:1-3 in defense of their position that God is in control of our elections:
” Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.”
Thus the reasoning goes that it must be God who put Barack Obama in office, and whatever happens must therefore be the will of God.
But let’s think about this for a moment. If we make this verse a doctrine and apply it literally and broadly across the fabric of history, I think we’ll see a problem emerge. When Martin Luther nailed his theses to the door at Whitenburg was he in rebellion against God? He was surely rebelling against authority; and spiritual authority at that. How about the Fathers of our nation who fought against the forces of the British Crown to establish a new, independent government in defiance of their authority? What about those German Christians who refused to support Hitler’s campaign to exterminate the Jewish people from the face of the earth? How about those millions of Christians around the world today who must worship in secret because the practice of Christianity is forbidden by their government. Do we have a problem with this doctrine yet?
Let’s make it more real with some possibilites we could very well face in the not too distant future. What will you do if the government decides to limit you to only having 1 child because of new population control laws? What will you do when your income tax rates are 50%, 60%, even 70% of what you make in order to pay the interest on the national debt they have amassed in bailing out the banks, auto industry, etc.? What will you do when the public school your 5 year old attends starts teaching that homosexual unions are normal and then informs you that you have no say in the matter because homosexual marriage is now the law? Will you submit when the government wants to tell you what kind of car you can drive, what food you can eat, what temperature your home must be, and what clothes you will wear in the name of environmental responsibility and world equality? In the face of these things, will you sit passively by and cling to your doctrine that God is in control of everything and all leaders come into power in accordance with His will?
I think all Christians can agree that the death of Christ on the cross was the pivotal point of history. Most Christians view the sacrifice of Christ through the lens of personal salvation. While this is the central truth of the cross, there is another equally significant truth involved; the establishment of God’s Kingdom upon the earth and the beginning of a new covenant and a brand new Age of righteousness.
Since that day, the Kingdom has been growing, expanding, filling this world, day by day, heart by heart. This Kingdom is God’s rule and reign upon the earth. It’s goal and purpose is the complete and total transformation of every nation, people and tribe, bringing the life-giving will and purposes of God into full realization upon the earth.
This Kingdom comes challenging the authority of the enemy – the god of this age, who possesses great power and influence in every nation and foments rebellion against the perfect will of God and His Kingdom. Thus we are in a war for the hearts of men and for the soul of every nation, especially that in which we live.
The clear commandment of Christ is to dwell in God’s love, to love our fellow man, and seek the righteousness of God. He also commanded us to make disciples (followers) of this Kingdom and teach them how to live and walk in righteousness. I believe we could sum this up with Jesus words – “I have come that they might have life in abundance“. There is no country on earth where that is more possible than America, the land of the free and the home of the brave.
What is my point? I believe that the birth of America was the culminating fruit of centuries of Kingdom expansion upon the earth. This land was birthed by those who sought freedom – to be free to live in peace, pursue their dreams, and worship God in whatever manner they desired. In only 100 years, America because the greatest nation that has ever existed upon the earth, not because we were the richest or most powerful, but because we were a free people, and our founding documents, if followed, virtually guaranteed our success. We also became the beachhead and top exporter of the Gospel of the Kingdom to the nations of the earth.
However, the last 100 years have seen a terrible reversal of these vital principles. Slowly but surely our government has gotten bigger and ever more powerful. Taxes are increasing while freedom is decreasing. Righteousness living is no longer common as our nation’s moral fabric has disintegrated. Truth is increasingly in short supply as the media spews lies and excrement to an adrenaline-addicted, intellectually slothful generation. International financial interests wield far more power in political realms than the masses they govern. Things are not as they should be.
Did God put Barack Obama in power? No, He did not. We did. We the people. Do not blame God for anything that happens on your watch, Christian. We hold the destiny of this nation in our hands. God has not left us alone, but He has left us in charge.
You see, it was God-fearing men and women who took the principles of the Kingdom of God seriously and fought and bled and died to create this great nation where freedom reigned and government was intentionally restrained by law:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.“
Selah.
Does this mean that I believe God is opposed to Barack Obama? No more than He is opposed to you or I. God is for us all. But we are deceived if we believe that God picks sides, for He does not.
The real question is this – is Barack Obama on God’s side? How can we tell? “You shall know them by their fruits“. When President Obama seeks to bring peace and prosperity, promoting freedom and liberty for all the people, he is surely on God’s side. At the same time, when President Obama appoints activist judges who erode liberty and freedom, who open up the floodgates of unrestrained murder of unborn babies, he is surely not a friend of God nor His Kingdom.
I believe “God is in control” is a Christian cop-out. True, God is all powerful, but in this Age He chooses to limit His power, seeking to exercise it almost solely through the ambassadors of His Kingdom. The gift of freedom is a fearful thing, for it bears great responsibility. Adam was free to partake of the forbidden fruit. Man is free to love God or hate him. And we, as Americans have been graced with the freedom to choose what kind of nation we shall have. Every election is another opportunity to either advance or restrain the rule and reign of God in our nation by choosing righteous or unrighteous leaders to govern us. Let us stop blaming God for our own failures to act responsibility with the great power and freedom He has given to us.
Yesterday Barack Obama swore an oath on the Lincoln Bible to uphold the Constitution of the United States. I’m going to hold him to that, and I pray you will as well. If we do not, we shall have no one to blame but ourselves for our great loss.
Let us earnestly pray that President Obama will be firmly on God’s side… that he will turn from the ungodly positions he has held in his former days, and govern righteously and wisely. May God have mercy upon us.
Until next time,
R<><
“When the righteous rule, the people rejoice”
Addendum to previous post – Now Is Your Time
Last night Apostle (Papa) Wayne C. Anderson preached a great message on the rescue of God. It is a very timely word – that we must not lose hope in the midst of the battles ahead and we need to be looking for His rescue. This is the balancing message to my previous rantings, and it got me thinking that I should clarify my personal position on this critical issue of God’s rescue.
Lest anyone think that in my “no help is coming” premise, I’m somehow limiting God’s power or desire to intervene in our lives supernaturally, I’m not. Scripture is filled with instances where God intervenes in human history on behalf of His people when they are in trouble. How could a loving God do anything less? And we certainly require His intervention to fix the mess that we’re currently in.
Yet, we must also remember that most, if not every time God intervened in human history, He required some kind of faith-based action on the part of His people. We must also realize that since the arrival of the Kingdom on earth, the government of God has shifted to His ecclesia (Church). Prior to that, the people had no options but to cry out to God for rescue. Today, God is incarnate and actively working through those who engage the Kingdom and make it a priority in their everyday lives.
Sadly, we’ve not done well at this as His governing Body on earth, and I believe this is the season for that to change. God WILL intervene on our behalf, but he will not reward the irresponsibility and poor stewardship that got us into the mess we’re in. I think we’ve spent all together too much time waiting for God to do something for us, while He is waiting for us to do what He commanded us to do the last time He was here.
Our only hope lies in the Kingdom of God coming to this earth in it’s fullness. We can’t do it without God, and He won’t do it without us. At least that is my understanding of the nature of the Kingdom.
“May Your Kingdom come, and Your will be done, on earth, as it is in Heaven.”
Kingdom Conversations 